'Dear Minister Frydenberg . . . . . '

Geoff Cousins appeals to Minister Frydenberg.

Congratulations on your appointment as minister for the environment and energy. The bringing together of these two portfolios for the first time could present a substantial opportunity for sound policy development in Australia.

It must be a considerable relief for you to emerge from the gloom of the resources portfolio, away from the problems of the decline of the fossil fuel sector and the return of the killer black lung disease, into the bright light of nature and our rivers, mountains, forests and reefs. Why, you could even be the minister who saves the Great Barrier Reef – but more of that later.

In the meantime, you may want to have a word with that other new minister, Senator Matthew Canavan, who says he is excited by the prospect of the Adani Carmichael coalmine being built. This result seems unlikely, to say the least, and the comment politically unwise. As you would know, the CEO of Origin Energy, one of our largest energy providers, said recently that he believed no more coal-fired power plants would be built in this country. Along with the prior statement from the CEO of our largest energy company, AGL – that it would abandon coal completely over the next few decades – it seems clear that Australia is entering a new era of clean energy whatever your government’s policy may be.

Read the story by Geoff Cousins in The Saturday Paper - “Dear Minister Frydenberg.”